Location analysis has matured from an area of theoretical inquiry that was designed to explain observed phenomena to a vibrant field which can be and has been used to locate items as diverse as landfills, fast food outlets, gas stations, as well as politicians and products in issue and feature spaces. Modern location science is dealt with by a diverse group of researchers and practitioners in geography, economics, operations research, industrial engineering, and computer science.
Given the tremendous advances location science has seen from its humble beginnings, it is time to look back. The contributions in this volume were written by eminent experts in the field, each surveying the original contributions that created the field, and then providing an up-to-date review of the latest contributions.
Specific areas that are covered in this volume include:
The three main fields of inquiry: minisum and minimax problems and covering models
Nonstandard location models, including those with competitive components, models that locate undesirable facilities, models with probabilistic features, and problems that allow interactions between facilities
Descriptions and detailed examinations of exact techniques including the famed Weiszfeld method, and heuristic methods ranging from Lagrangean techniques to Greedy algorithms
A look at the spheres of influence that the facilities generate and that attract customers to them, a topic crucial in planning retail facilities
The theory of central places, which, other than in mathematical games, where location science was born
Reviews / Votes
From the reviews:
"The volume . may find a great number of potential readers. . one group may be those who would like to get (more) familiar with the original papers of the ancestors of location theory and their impact on current research; this is precisely the readership that the editors primarily have in mind . . To sum up, I consider Eiselt's and Marianov's volume to be an outstanding one as it organizes the vast amount of literature concerning location analysis in an excellent way . ." (Gert W. Wolf, International Journals of Geographical Information Science, Vol. 26 (3), March, 2012)
"A book that investigates and discusses the origins of location analysis and the papers that have shaped this field seems a laudable idea to me. The editors of foundations of Location Analysis . discuss such papers and their influence on later research. . Without hesitation, I recommend this book to all location theory researchers. PhD researchers will find it useful for understanding the origins of our field. Established researchers should be interested in its collection of the seminal works that shaped location theory." (Gabor Nagy, Interfaces, Vol. 42 (4), July-August, 2012)
"This title is potentially a mouth-watering one for the regional science community: location analysis is at the heart of what we do, and we are promised a review of the key original contributions to the field. . The book is a considerable achievement by the editors and the authors and will serve as a major reference work for this approach to location analysis." (Alan Wilson, Journal of Regional Science, February, 2013)
Series
Edition
Language
Place of publication
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Research
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
ISBN-13
978-1-4614-2795-7 (9781461427957)
DOI
10.1007/978-1-4419-7572-0
Schweitzer Classification
Pioneering Developments in Location Analysis.- Uncapacitated and Capacitated Facility Location Problems.- Median Problems in Networks.- Continuous Center Problems.- Discrete Center Problems.- Covering Problems.- Equilibria in Competitive Location Models.- Sequential Location Models.- Conditional Locational Problems on Networks and in the Plane.- The Location of Undesirable Facilities.- Stochastic Analysis in Location Research.- Hub Location Problems: The Location of Interacting Facilities.- Exact Solution of Two Location Problems via Branch-and-Branch.- Exploititng Structure: Location Problems on Trees and Treelike Graphs.- Heuristics for Location Problems.- The Weiszfeld Algorithm: Proof, Amendments, and Extensions.- Lagrangean Relaxation-Based Techniques in the Solution of Facility Location Problems.- Gravity Modeling and its Impact on Location Analysis.- Voronoi Diagrams and their Uses.- Central Places: The Theories of von Thünen, Christaller, and Lösch.
